Busselton woman Linda Smith isn't a nurse or a doctor, but has the privilege of being with people in their last moments.
A volunteer at Busselton Hospice Care Inc, she's part of a 30-year-effort in the seaside community to ensure no-one need die, or grieve, alone.
"The stories that you are told are amazing and you go home quite heartened … they have impacted on my life," she said.
"Sometimes [patients] talk about their very early days and they remember when they were children, and when they first came to live in Australia."
Patients also talk about families and their pets.
She is part of a group of trained volunteers who keep overnight vigils.
"Our philosophy is we don't have anyone who has to die alone," Ms Smith said.
"One of the volunteers is able to sit with the patient through the night, hold their hands, just talk to them very quietly, because hearing is the last thing to go.
"The nurses come in and out during the night, but we are there constantly and sit beside them."
You never expect it
Retired farmers Dennis and Heather Russell's son Hedley died from cancer three years ago.
He was 42.
"When you're middle-aged you don't expect to encounter that," Mr Russell said.
"When Hedley got his cancer, we knew what the end was going to be.
"And when it happened, it was a big shock and grief to the family."
Volunteers and hospice nurses supported Hedley as he died, and continue to provide support for his family.
Just simple acts of care, such as providing hand and foot massages, and providing a listening ear, has helped "immensely," Mr Russell said.
"When [Hedley died], we were down in the dumps and Heather needed some help, and it just snowballed from there," he said.
"It's been the greatest thing we could have wished to help us through."
Death literacy
Busselton Hospice Care deputy chair Tamsin Coutts said her organisation had equipped the community to handle death compassionately since it was founded by volunteers 30 years ago.
Dr Coutts said the dying needed more than medical care.
"It's recognised that the role of medical palliative care is very important, a large part of people's needs at the end of life are not necessarily medical," she said.
"It's supportive … and can be delivered by volunteers who are trained."
Dr Coutts said there was a broader movement to increase what was described as "death literacy".
She said the hospice association was in the process of organising events to encourage people to plan for end-of-life care.
"We are not very good about talking about death as a nation," she said.
"We know if people can understand what to expect when death is approaching … that is much better for them."
Nothing to fear
Volunteer Linda Smith said she was privileged to be with people as they died.
"It's been my privilege to be there and just hold their hand at the end and know that they have calmly left this earth," she said.
"I think that's a comfort to their families, who sometimes can't be with them, to know that person did not die alone."
She said people were talking more about the end of life, since voluntary assisted dying laws passed in 2019.
"People are thinking a lot more about death," she said.
"There's nothing to fear really."
